Preferred strings

[DarrellW]

I use mostly D’Addario EXL110W 10 - 46 with wound G on all my electric guitars and Martin EC signature 13 - 56 with wound G on my Acoustic Guitars apart from my HB GS travel which gets the same as my Electric Guitars, and on my Classical Guitar I use Daddario EJ45FF standard tension, these are Carbon strings and very rarely need changing!

[sticktothemuse]

Nice analysis, thanks. I too tend towards the 9’s.

[sticktothemuse]

BTW, if you like Blues, I landed on DR strings and really like them.

[Helen0609]

@domi7

From my experience I can imagine that 10s are probably on the edge for you or too thick. For you, the 9s may be better for bending and also, it’s more a question of getting used to.

Thanks, Dominique, I’ll just give it a bit more time, when I’m going to change for the next time, I’ll decide what to do.

@sequences

I am a bit nerdy,

. Maybe, but I totally understand your ambitions… only trying to justify the purchase of a tele for myself, now I definitely need one to put 9s on !

[jkahn]

So far my favourite strings are D’addario XS on my electrics. 10’s on my Guild (Gibson scale length) and 9’s with fat bottom on my Fender.

I tried Elixir (don’t like their electric strings) and Rotosound (good) as well.

I use Elixir on my acoustic and love them there.

[domi7]

@Helen0609

Thanks, Dominique, I’ll just give it a bit more time, when I’m going to change for the next time, I’ll decide what to do.

Oh, I notice I wasn’t precise in what I stated before: I rather meant getting used to thinner strings. WIth strings you find too thick for bending, I don’t know… you can surely make progress, but it’s probably easier using the thinner strings you find too thin at first and adpat with time.
I remember Justin in a video talking about prefering a bit thicker strings generally, then trying 8s on a certain guitar and being positively surprised.

I found that I could improve bending with 11s on my Les Paul style guitar with lots of practice, and some days it was pretty much ok, other days, it didn’t work well.

But on the other hand, if you’re not in blues immersion and have some time table like we had, you’ll have lots of time to try to get used to your 10s too. I’m not a fan myself of changing strings all the time

[FunkyFingers]

@Helen0609

Would you recommend to stay on 10s?

I would suggest having a play and see what works for you I reckon.
I can get full tone bends with 11s no problem, but after 30mins or so of bending the finger tips get a bit angry. 10s are a middle ground. 9s feel so light I have a problem with overshooting. Potentially wouldn’t be a problem if I just stayed on the same gauge for a while.
Maybe I shouldn’t have different guitars in different rooms to just pick up and play or maybe I need to only practice blues in one room on one guitar while hitting Da Punk Rock in another room. first world problems.

If you can afford it (not huge cost), and can set up your guitar yourself then have a tinker. It may get a bit pricey if you can’t do a set up because changing gauges is likely to impact your set up.

[AaronAddams]

I’ve recently moved from 10’s to 9’s (blue steel) on my electric and its made such a difference for bending and hammer ons and pull offs, really helped me develope my vabrato too.

I use 10’s on my acoustic now down from 12’s and just find it generly easier to play.
My accoustic is very nice and set up with a very low action

I am.was in the habbit of pressing super hard with my fretting hand (when I started I was using a badly set up cheap yamahaa) and changing to a lower guage have somewhat helped with this.

Primarily changing from 12’s to 10’s has helped with this years mission of using my fingers a little

[Helen0609]

@domi7

I rather meant getting used to thinner strings.

I have been used to thinner strings . I only recently changed gauge on this guitar.

@domi7

you can surely make progress, but it’s probably easier using the thinner strings you find too thin at first and adpat with time.

This might be the way to go!

@FunkyFingers

30mins or so of bending the finger tips get a bit angry.

That’s part of the problem, my callouses are peeling off when bending, they need to adjust to this first. And I fear to get used to press much too hard, which causes tension with a negativ aspect for my playing.

@FunkyFingers

It may get a bit pricey if you can’t do a set up because changing gauges is likely to impact your set up.

I had a setup when changing to 10s only recently and it cost me quit a few bucks, now the guitar is setup very nicely for 10s, I’m not keen on reset up to 9s .

@FunkyFingers

can set up your guitar yourself

I definitely should learn to setup my stuff on my own, somehow it’s part of the game, isn’t it?

[FunkyFingers]

@Helen0609

setup

Yeah part of it I reckon. Keeping same gauge is the easy option. Intonation isn’t really a problem, I’m less tooled up for setting the action but there are some vids on setting the action based more on feel and string buzz, which is where I’ll head next.

[Helen0609]

There it is, Justin’s answer (Lesson popped up in another thread, posted 1h ago by @sequences):

https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/what-string-gauge-should-we-use-hts-0005

"### So… Did I Change My Strings?

Yep. After 40 years of playing 10s, I’ve switched to 9s. They feel better, and to my ear, they sound just as good. That said, this is totally personal—I’m not saying you should switch, but I do think you should try setting a gauge up or down and see how it feels for you."

[Wheatenterrier]

For 20+ years, I’ve used the strings the Guitar Manufacturer ships with their guitars. In my case, my Suhr electrics were 10-46 Elixir Nanowebs. Suhr has moved to D’addario XS. My Acoustic Taylor started out with 12 -53 Elixir Phosphor Bronze. Taylor also moved to D’Addario XS.

From what I heard, Elixir’s patent on coated strings expired recently so other manufacturers like D’Addario are moving into the coated string arena

[Mustela]

I haven’t experimented with changing string gauge on any of my guitars. I have so far kept the same gauge as what my guitars have come with.

So that’s 12’s for my Taylor (GS Mini)
11’s on my Yamaha acoustic and my cheap Enya beater
and 10’s on my Epiphone Les Paul.

I think playing 12’s on my Taylor has helped with finger strength such that going to the Les Paul feels REALLY easy. Any difficulties I have with string bends and barre chords aren’t really related to the strings AFAIK.

As for brand? shrug Used D’addarios for years on the Yamaha. I think my LP had Ernie Balls on it when I got it. I’m trying Stringjoys on both acoustics and my Les Paul right now and they’re nice, but I don’t think the differences between them what I had before are enough for me to care. The Enya came with a set of replacement strings and I haven’t even changed the original ones yet. Given that I take that one camping and whatnot, it’ll probably have the least frequent string changes of all my guitars.

[Beatup6String]

I have DR Blues 9’s on my Strat and ES-335, and like them more than the Fender 9s and Gibson 10s they came with.

Regardless of brand, 9s are definitely easier to bend than 10s or higher @Helen0609

[sticktothemuse]

Agree!

[rick111]

I tried some D’Addario XL nickle 09s and I loved them. But then I got my guitar setup and the tech changed the strings and put some basic Ernie Ball strings on them, I don’t remember which ones but they are not as nice. But I didn’t want to change them so soon again so I’ve played them out they’re pretty dirty now tbh I’ve just ordered some. D’Addario NYXL 10s to give them a try, they’re double the price but should last longer I hear.

I’m currently just trying out different sets to see what I prefer but so far it’s not Ernie Ball for me.